STORY UPDATE, SEPT. 13, 2023: Danelo Cavalcante was captured by police in Pennsylvania on Sept. 13. This story has been updated with the latest development.
On Wednesday, Sept. 13, authorities in Pennsylvania announced the capture of Danelo Cavalcante, an escaped prisoner and convicted murderer. More than 500 members of law enforcement in the region were looking for Cavalcante for nearly two weeks.
Cavalcante, 34, broke out of the Chester County jail on Aug. 31 while awaiting transfer to a state prison to serve a life sentence for fatally stabbing an ex-girlfriend in 2021. Prosecutors say he killed her to stop her from telling police that he was wanted in a slaying in Brazil, his home country.
While he was on the run, people online expressed shock that Cavalcante hasn’t been found yet, considering roadblocks and large search units seen in the area.
One video posted online claims a police helicopter dispatched in the area did catch sight of Cavalcante. The video claims to show night-vision footage from a police helicopter of Cavalcante running through a wooded area.
The post with the video says: “BREAKING LEAKED VIDEO Pennsylvania State Police night vision camera out of one of the helos shows just how close they were to capturing #DaneloCavalcante last night. How does this guy keep getting away ? Who is this guy ?? #DaneloCavalcante #fugitive”
The video was posted the morning of Sept. 12 and within a few hours had more than 130,000 views.
THE QUESTION
Does this viral video show leaked footage from the Danelo Cavalcante manhunt?
THE SOURCES
- Winnipeg Police Service video from 2018
- InVid and RevEye, footage forensics tools
THE ANSWER
No, this video does not show leaked footage from the Danelo Cavalcante manhunt.
WHAT WE FOUND
The viral video wasn’t taken in September 2023 or in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is where police were focusing their search for Cavalcante.
The clip that has gone viral was actually taken from a longer video posted in August 2018 that shows a man fleeing in Winnipeg, Canada.
VERIFY used InVid to isolate keyframes from the video and conduct a reverse image search, leading to the original video posted to YouTube on Aug. 4, 2018 by the Winnipeg Police Service.
According to the Winnipeg Police Service’s caption on the original YouTube video, police dispatched helicopter AIR1 on Aug. 2, 2018, to help track a stolen vehicle. The 23-year-old man accused of stealing the vehicle stopped at an embankment before fleeing on foot. At the end of the original video, the man can be seen surrounded by police. He was arrested, according to the video’s caption.
The 25-second clip was lifted from about 3 minutes into the longer video. At six seconds into the viral clip, a man can be seen running, visible through a gap in the trees. That same moment can be seen at 3:01 into the longer video.
At 3:04 into the longer video, a neighborhood street and houses can be seen. That same road pattern and houses can be seen at the 9-second mark of the shorter clip that is being shared with false claims it was taken from the Cavalcante manhunt.
Also, the same watermark seen in the shorter clip that says L3 WESCAM can be seen in the longer video. L3Harris' WESCAM is a model of infrared cameras.
So we can VERIFY, this video does not show “leaked footage” of Cavalcante on the lam.
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